Sagarmatha Sambaad: Experts warn climate change increases risks for mountain communities

KATHMANDU: Stakeholders have raised concerns over climate change posing severe threats to mountain regions.

During a session on "Risk and Assessment of Mountain Regions" held as part of Sagarmatha Sambaad on Saturday, experts warned that people living in mountain regions would face increased vulnerability if timely measures to mitigate climate change impacts are not implemented.

Dr Tao Wang, Director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, stated that mountain regions have been most affected by rising global temperatures.

Dr Simon Allen, Academic Associate at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, stressed the need to enhance local-level capacity to address climate change impacts.

Emily Mark, Senior Geological Engineer at BGC Engineering Inc, Canada, highlighted that climate change would significantly affect environmental systems and development, while Professor Rajib Shaw from Keio University, Japan, underscored the importance of collaboration and diversity at both local and global levels to tackle these challenges.

Dr Niels Hovius, Head of the German Research Centre for Geosciences, emphasised the development of natural disaster early warning systems for climate adaptation, monitoring climate change impacts, and implementing environmental sustainability measures.

Experts pointed out that mountains are among the most dynamic and fragile ecosystems on the planet, increasingly vulnerable to threats such as landslides, floods, glacial lake outburst floods, and avalanches.

Scientists cautioned that climate change would exacerbate these risks, threatening the lives and livelihoods of mountain communities as well as billions of people living in low-lying areas.

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